The core curriculum for many of the trainings, workshops and programs at Motion Picture Industry Institute is the legacy of the acclaimed industry skills-building training programs at Filmmakers Foundation, which was founded in 1995 by a group of industry professionals who wanted to share pro-level career-building info with their peers and also to give back by helping those who were attempting to launch and further careers in the entertainment industry to benefit from the lessons that they had learned “the hard way”.
With the support and partnership of such industry organizations as The Writer’s Guild (WGA), The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), The Directors Guild (DGA), Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney , Warner Brothers, and many leading industry professionals* Filmmakers Foundation grew quickly and soon had three major programs: The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the motion picture industry career building training programs, and a nonprofit indie filmmaking collective-style production company.
By the year 2000 it was clear that each of these programs needed their own organizations in order to continue to grow in their own best way.  The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival was spun off on its own, where it evolved away from the focus on the “independent” and is now called The Los Angeles Film Festival.   The indie filmmaking collective group migrated over to a sister filmmakers collective which is now known as the Filmmakers Alliance.  The industry career building programs are now the core programs here at MPII.